News of the Western Belize Recreational Area, about 500 square miles of waterfalls, caves, Mayan ruins and pyramids, Belize Alps, foothills, ranches and farms, tourist accomodations of all types and description, tours and expeditions for vacationers and visitors. Even a small growing expatriate retirement group of people from different countries. In Belize, this is where it is happening, all the things that are fun and even serious, with a climate of ETERNAL SPRING.

This was a difficult decision to make. The recent BUS system chaos, evolved over time and in secret. The discussions and debates and motivations and moves made have been endless in the television media on local cable TV. It took a few weeks for the facts to become clear and opinions to be formed. It finally became clear that the local bus operators holding permits for the most lucrative runs, that they need to function, and thus provide service as well, on bus routes that do not pay, were being taken advantage of, in a pre-planned pre-meditated intent as a hostile raid on their market share, by an organized cabal within the controlling UDP government, led by Transport Minister, Melvin Hulse. Before anybody says anything else, this is my opinion alone and not that of my wife, or brother-in-law. It is just that an opinion, my opinion. As a patriot I have been dithering since the Prime Minister, leader of the political gang, that makes up the party controlling government announced to what was in my opinion OUTRIGHT THEFT, through use of political office. Fear of political persecution, the misuse of government apparatus, the police and security forces and other government departments are all the things, I have wrestled with in fear and doubt in doing this 10 point deduction decision, from the approval rating of the UDP government. The jury was in and the decision was already made, this was THEFT MOST FOUL and typical of a small country local investors experienced in Belize in the past. I recall from my own life 40 or 50 years ago in a different time and era, when my import lumber business was stolen by the government of that day, and a Cabinet Minister used the power of political office and the apparatus of government to do so, through the permit process stealing my import lumber business. There was another instance, when the price control apparatus function of government wrecked a DEEP WATER RED SNAPPER fishing business, by putting a $1.50 per pound controlled price on fish that cost me $4.50 to produce in a ten day fishing trip. In both cases I lost the businesses and the boats and gear I had invested in. CORRUPTION and GREED and misuse of government departments and processes is never nice to experience in a small heavily controlled country. So my heart goes out to the planned raid on the bus routes of the existing holders of permits for bus routes, in a hostile raid for market share, by in my opinion, by a CRIMINAL Cabinet Minister using the BUS PERMIT process. The whole thing was done by surprise and in SECRET, to spring on the unwary bus owners that they were to be bankrupted by the Transport Minister of Cabinet, in favor of a connected political party adherent member, to take over the bus business, market share, with a new bus scheme and a batch of 24 buses that had been languishing in storage from another failed MONOPOLY GAMBIT, in the lucrative section of the bus transportation business. The day before, the bus owners had presented their case, the media had done investigative reporting and as the facts unfolded over a two week period, it was clear this was a political controlled and misuse of the functions of a government department raid. The only question was, if this STEALING of the lucrative bus business routes, was widespread approved by the UDP political party controlling our government, or was it an isolated situation? The bus owners in media interviews had said they no longer could TRUST the negotiations by UDP Cabinet Transportation Minister, Melvin Hulse and would trust in the fairness of the Prime Minister to judge the issue. ( The PRIME MINISTER always mouths platitudes as to his intregrity and says repeatedly he will only work within the law and so forth. He claims he is honest, even though his NEPOTISM is a widespread scandal.) That said, it was with every good will, we waited developments and like the bus owners, to see if the Prime Minister would rectify the wrongs, we see as CRIMINAL, MISUSE OF POLITICAL MANAGEMENT AUTHORITY on behalf of the bus owners being raided by political corruption. Prime Minister Dean Barrow gave his local TV media interview last night. It was with sinking heart, I heard him use mealy mouthed justifications, rationalizations, to legalize CORRUPTION by his UDP CABINET in office, from my own experiences in the past and today in the present, I thus have formed my opinion. So what do we have now? What we have is corruption of political office most foul. Not as bad as the previous government of PUP, but certainly not what has often been advertised by this PRIME MINISTER in the past three years. A good political record has just crashed with a horrendous BANG by the Prime Minister´s political party. It is a good job he has previously announced that he intends to resign at the end of this term. The PRIME MINISTER has finally put the nail in the coffin of his much ballyhooed intregrity. It´s a shame,because the UDP have done well given the circumstances they inherited when coming into office. Many difficult decisions have been made and you cannot please everybody. As an individual with a REPORT CARD on government UDP performance managing our countries finances and assets, I have only one method of showing my dissapointment in our government managment. That is to take 10 points off the UDP report card. I have to leave it to the activists, the NGO´s struggling to join a struggle I have been doing to build this country, since the mid 1960´s, for which once I suffered EXILE by political persecution by George Price, the FIRST MINISTER at the time. Which was resolved later by intervention of the Governor General of the time and George Price. There is also FODDER now for campaigning against the PRIME MINISTER and his crooked UDP party CORRUPTION, by his political opponents, the VIP and the PUP in opposition. SHAME this! I had hoped the Prime Minister had the sense to disown the whole mess caused by TRANSPORT MINISTER, Melvin Hulse´s maneuverings. I feel really disappointed.